President Jokowi Inaugurates Fertilizer Factory in Aceh Province

Thepresidentpost.id - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo Friday (02/10) inaugurated a nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizer factory PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda (PIM), in North Aceh regency, Aceh province.

The need for fertilizer in Indonesia, the President said, currently has reached 13.5 million tons and only around 3.5 million tons have been fulfilled. Therefore, the factory is expected to increase the supply of national fertilizer to solve this problem.

“Every time I go to the villages, every time I go to the fields to meet the farmers, what they always say is, “There is no fertilizer, Sir. Its price is high.” If they don’t have the fertilizer, if the supply goes down, it means that the price will definitely go up, especially if it’s subsidized. We need to solve this big problem,” the President said.

The President underlined that the increase in fertilizer price was one of the triggers for rising food prices. For this reason, the availability of fertilizer stocks is critical to maintain the stability of food prices in the country.

“Currently, food prices in almost all countries have increased drastically. It is due to the climate change. Secondly, it is the problem of fertilizers due to the war in Ukraine. Russian and Ukrainian fertilizer producers, they are big producers. It shook the agricultural sector in almost all countries. Production and productivity are decreasing. In the end, the output will decrease while its price will increase,” he said.

The President also stated that there were two fertilizer factories in Aceh namely PT Aceh ASEAN Fertilizer (AAF) and PT PIM that had to stop their operations due to gas supply constraints. He has also ordered the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir to resolve this issue.

The President also expressed hope that, in the future, the PIM factory, which was built with a budget allocation of Rp1.7 trillion, can boost its production up to 1.14 million tons, twice of its maximum capacity of 570,000 tons.